This invention is directed to a clamping device with an attached arm in which the act of opening the clamp makes the arm flexible and closing the clamp makes the arm rigid. The arm can be made flexible independently of opening the clamp.
Clamping devices are well known in the mechanical arts, being useful for work projects such as carpentry, plumbing, electronics, auto repair, and surgery. Many such clamping devices are attached to flexible arms, as described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,510,198, 2,887,974, and 3,858,578. However, none of these clamping devices enables a user to clamp an object safely and independently and make rigid the flexible arm with one motion. Each requires that the flexible arm be positioned and then held in place to clamp a workpiece while a separate mechanism is used to render the arm rigid.
Each of the prior art clamping devices has the disadvantage that a user must in separate motions clamp a workpiece and then position the arm of the clamp, thus making it difficult to properly position a workpiece. In these situations, many adjustments are frequently necessary before a workpiece is properly positioned and clamped. Thus, there is a need for a clamp with an attached flexible arm wherein the arm can be made rigid in the same movement that closes the clamp.
This invention in one embodiment is a device that includes a simple spring clamp connected to a segmented arm that can be made rigid and immobile by releasing hand pressure on the clamp. Application of hand pressure to the clamp makes the clamp open and the arm flexible, thereby allowing it to be easily repositioned. The clamping device of the invention includes a central anchoring point with a release that enables a user to render the arm flexible without opening the clamp and releasing the workpiece. The uses of such a device are numerous, including many mechanical work projects such as carpentry, plumbing, auto repair and surgery.
In one embodiment, the device includes two clamps and two arms each meeting at a central anchoring point, which would also have an independent mechanism for making the arms flexible. One clamp could be affixed to a stationary object and the other clamp could be used to hold a workpiece and move it into any of an essentially infinite number of desirable positions before making the arms rigid. Once in position, the user may easily return the arms to their rigid state, holding the workpiece in a steady, convenient location.
In other embodiments the device could include any number of flexible arms connected together by a common central anchoring point to create a spiderlike device useful for holding multiple workpieces or the same workpiece in multiple locations. Each flexible arm can be connected to any of a variety of clamping devices. In another modification, a portable stand could be connected to the central anchoring point to allow the device to be freestanding.
The importance of this device is that it allows a worker to hold a workpiece in any number of different and easily attainable positions while still securing the piece and immobilizing the arm in a single step.